Afghans who worked with US should be exempt from aid

10/2/2025 6:06

A group representing U.S.

veterans, service members and others is warning the Trump

administration of severe impacts on U.S. security unless it

exempts tens of thousands of Afghans – many at risk of Taliban

retribution – from the president's foreign aid and refugee

freeze that has stranded them worldwide.



Possible consequences include a loss of trust that could

impair local support for U.S. troops in future wars, said a

letter sent on Saturday to Secretary of State Marco Rubio by

Shawn VanDiver, the head of #AfghanEvac, the main coalition

working on the resettlement of Afghans with the U.S. government.



Denying the exceptions, it added, also will show foes like

Islamic State that "the U.S. abandons its allies," and endanger

active-duty Afghan-American U.S. military members' wives,

children and parents who are stuck in Afghanistan.



The State Department did not immediately respond to a

request for comment.



Among President Donald Trump’s first acts upon taking office

were to order a temporary halt to foreign aid and refugee

programs, pending 90-day reviews. Rubio issued waivers for what

he called “life-saving humanitarian assistance,” but aid workers

have said those waivers sparked widespread confusion.



“We are asking for relief in the form of exemptions,” said

the letter, reviewed by Reuters, which also went to Homeland

Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Defense Secretary Pete

Hegseth, who served in Afghanistan during the 20-year U.S. war.



The U.S. Department of State did not immediately respond to

a request for comment.



The Republican president ordered the refugee freeze as part

of an immigration crackdown that he said is needed because of

high levels of illegal immigration, but from which he exempted

white South Africans on Friday.



The foreign aid freeze has stalled flights from Afghanistan

for some 40,000 Afghans approved as refugees or for Special

Immigration Visas.



SIVs are granted to Afghans at risk of Taliban retribution

because they worked for the U.S. government during the war that

ended with the pullout of the last U.S. troops in August 2021.



UN reports say that the Taliban have jailed, tortured and

killed Afghans who fought or worked for the former

Western-backed government. The Taliban deny the allegations,

pointing to a general amnesty approved for former government

soldiers and officials.



The flight freeze also has stranded some 3,000 vetted

Afghans approved for travel to the United States in processing

facilities in Qatar and Albania, said VanDiver and a U.S.

official, who requested anonymity.



Some 50,000 others are marooned in nearly 90 other countries

– about half of them in Pakistan – approved for U.S.

resettlement or awaiting SIV or refugee processing, they said.